
04.26.23
Fair Report
The Best of Salone Del Mobile 2023, Part II
Much ado has been made about the death of monoculture in other areas like television or music, but to be honest, I’d never thought about it in terms of design until I was in Milan for the 61st annual Salone del Mobile last week. Design has long been a discipline of ever-spiraling-outward niches, but, reliably, the Milan Furniture Fair was where you could go to see it all in one place. But while Milan has often felt too sprawling for one person to take in, this was the year it seemed to fracture entirely. Scrolling through other people’s Instagram Stories, seeing exhibitions that hadn’t even made it onto my radar, much less my extensive Google doc, made me stop and wonder: “Are we even at the same fair?” You could compare notes with friends about which exhibitions were your favorites, but the overlaps were few and far between.
It’s hard to know how to feel about this. For some, the sheer amount of talent on view can act as a catalyst for inspiration, and you can walk away feeling as if you’ve filled your cup for the year. It can also be encouraging that there’s room for so many people to celebrate their work. But Milan also functions as a reflection of the inherent excesses of our industry — which become harder to ignore the larger that industry becomes, no matter how many talks on sustainability we put on. It’s also a reminder that, in many cases, there’s only room for a certain type of person. We rolled our eyes on Instagram as the invitations came in from some of the big brands, promoting the same circle of white men that have been lifted up throughout the history of design. But between that and the inclusion of actually racist motifs in one exhibition this year, it’s clear that there’s still so much work to be done.
Looking through our favorites from the week (we sound grumpy, but we did have some!), it’s hard to discern actual trends — though we’ll sneak a few mini ones onto IG — but we can see that our eye often alighted on the sorts of projects that allude to a promising future. There were so many talented women whose work was on view this week, including Audrey Large at Nilufar, Katrin Greiling for Tecta, and Grace Prince at Oxilia Gallery; could some of them be promoted to even larger projects?! And the fair itself is aware of its sustainability problem, this year hiring Formafantasma to develop modular, recyclable structures for Euroluce that can be dismantled and reused after the fair has ended.
Today we’re focusing on brands, both those who showed at the fair, and those who popped up around town. We loved the collection at Cassina — though it was hard to see through the throngs — and the brand’s iMaestri exhibition, in a former bank vault, curated by Patricia Urquiola against a backdrop of blood red. Truly never thought we’d see a stack of Le Corbusier chaise longue frames with The Shining vibes. Other standouts included a quiet presentation of lovely geometric rugs by Ruckstuhl at Assab One, Studiopepe’s shock of lime green coffee table for Sancal, the addition of two friends of SU to the Tacchini stable (Umberto Bellardi Ricci and Brian Thoreen), Phillippe Malouin’s cheeky magnetic lamp for Flos, Knoll’s desert jungle pavilion, Acerbis’s 1970s throwback in the form of a John Chamberlain-esque sofa system by Claudio Salocchi, and the debut of one of our favorite lamps — Mangiarotti’s Lari lamp for Karakter — in a new, tiny, USB-charged portable size.
Cassina
Hayama by Patricia Urquiola
Chairs by Barber Osgerby, cabinet, mirror and vases by Patricia Urquiola
Tamburound chair by Barber Osgerby
Rug by Le Corbusier
Principi chair by Gio Ponti
La Main Ouverte rug by Le Corbusier
Hayama bar cabinet by Patricia Urquiola
Doge Laguna table by Carlo Scarpa
Cab Tab table by Mario Bellini © Luca Merli
Cassina Maestri
© Agostino Osio
Tecta
Katrin Greiling restyling Walter Gropius’s F51
Hatch sofa system by Geckeler Michels
Ruckstuhl
Fellow rugs by Stephan Hürlemann © Stefan Altenburger
Sancal
Bold table by Studiopepe
Link sofa by Raw Color
Flos
© Gianluca Bellomo
Bilboquet by Phillippe Malouin
Ceramique by Ronan Bouroullec
Six Act by Michael Anastassiades
Gino Sarfatti
Tacchini
Torus by Umberto Bellardi Ricci
Trono stool and Fackel light by Umberto Bellardi Ricci
Mano lights by Umberto Bellardi Ricci. All photos above © William Jess Laird
Solstice by Studiopepe © Andrea Ferrari
Le Mura in Formafantasma’s color palette
Sempronia by Tobia Scarpa © Giuseppe Dinnella
Parker by Lorenzo Bini © Giuseppe Dinnella
Altar by Ewe Studio © Giuseppe Dinnella
Torus by Umberto Bellardi Ricci © Giuseppe Dinnella
Zanotta
Galeotta by De Pas D’Urbino Lomazzi (1968) © Omar Sartor
Galeotta by De Pas D’Urbino Lomazzi (1968) © Omar Sartor
Quaderna mirror by Superstudio (1969-1972) © Omar Sartor
Quaderna console by Superstudio (1969-1972) © Simone Barberis
Bumper sofa by Calvi Brambilla © Simone Barberis
Bol table by Zaven © Simone Barberis
Glas Italia
CC coffee tables by Patricia Urquiola
Drift storage units by Nendo
Maestrale mirror by Piero Lissoni
Ollie by Yabu Pushelberg
Robotic by Patricia Urquiola
Baxter
So Far chair by Studiopepe
Nuvola lamp by Draga & Aurel
Elli armchair by Christophe Delcourt
Miami Soft bed by Paola Navone
Miami Soft sofa by Paola Navone
Dune table by Draga & Aurel
Karakter
Mini Lari lamp by Angelo Mangiarotti
Acerbis — NandaVigo & Claudio Salocchi Milanese Utopia
Due Piu chair by Nanda Vigo
Free System by Claudio Salocchi
Napoleone by Claudio Salocchi. All photos © Alberto Strada
Artemide
Dreispitz by Herzog & De Meuron
Look At Me lamp by Alida Catella & Silvio de Ponte
Mattiazzi
Oto by Studio OE
Pipaio by Julie Richoz
Magis
Outdoor Costume system by Stefan Diez
South by Konstantin Grcic
South by Konstantin Grcic
Twain by Konstantin Grcic
Luceplan
Liiu by Vantot
Millimeter by Daniel Rybakken
Knoll
1966 Schultz Collection and Lissoni outdoor collection © Federico Cedrone
Lissoni outdoor collection © Federico Cedrone
1966 Schultz Collection
GAN
MUT Design
Amini
Ciclopi rugs by Elisa Ossino
Khilim by Altherr Desile Park
Alias
Prima by Mario Botta
Robot by Mario Botta
Danese
Bruno Munari
A-N-D
Column Table Lamp
Vale Lamp
Vector by Lukas Peet
COR
Nook by Jehs + Laub
Diesel Living
High Cloud sofa
Fendi Casa
Thierry Lemaire
Billiani
Cristina Celestino
Schönbuch
Split Bowl by Martha Schwindling
Faye stool by Mathias Hahn
Maru by Bao Nghi-Droste
Wittmann
Baton by Neri + Hu
Adagio by Note Design Studio
Ouvert by Note Design Studio
Santa & Cole
Lámina Dorada by Antoni Arola
Lámina by Antoni Arola
Duo, 1973 by Andre Ricard
Saba at Spotti
Set design by Greta Cevenini, artwork by Giuseppe La Spada, Vela Sofa by Zanellato Bortotto
Saba
Teatro Magico table © Andrea Bartoluccio
Teatro Magico table © Andrea Bartoluccio
Teatro Magico table © Andrea Bartoluccio
Contardi
Baggy light by Paola Navone
Kiki lights by Contardi Studio
Stick light by Studiopepe
Gebrüder Thonet Vienna
India Mahdavi